Unrecognized vertebral body fractures (VBFs) in chest radiographic reports in Taiwan: a hospital-based study

Osteoporosis and its associated fragility fractures greatly impact the health-care system. VBF can be inadvertently overlooked on radiological examinations, which may delay diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. This hospital-based study evaluated chest radiographs to determine the prevalence rate of unrecognized VBF. Digitalized chest radiographs stored in the Taipei Veterans General Hospital Radiology Information System (TVGHRIS) were retrieved for study. One month of image data from 2009 was randomly obtained. All patients were over 55 years of age. Posterior-anterior (PA) and lateral chest radiographs were available for all patients. All selected chest radiographs were reviewed by two radiologists who were blinded to the official reports. Comparisons between official reports and the reference reports determined the prevalence of unrecognized VBF. Chest radiographs from 1655 patients (mean age 71.9 ± 10.4 years, 63.9% male) were reviewed. The prevalence of recognized VBF was significantly higher in consensus reports compared to the official reports (23.0% vs. 4.8%, p<0.001). Overall, 79% of VBFs were undiagnosed. The prevalence of unrecognized VBFs was 18.2% (19.6% in men, 15.7% in women). VBFs in men were more likely to be unrecognized than women (19.6% vs. 15.7%, p=0.04). Adjusted for age, gender was not an independent risk factor for unrecognized VBF in logistic regression. In conclusion, the high rate of unrecognized VBF in a tertiary medical center in Taiwan highlights the need to improve radiographic recognition of VBF, which could aid early treatment of osteoporosis in older adults.     

Resonant energy transfer and light scattering enhancement of plasmonic random lasers embedded with silver nanoplates

The resonant energy transfer enhancement from a plasmonic random laser (PRL) has been investigated by means of a dye-covered PVA film with embedded silver nanoplates (DC-PVA/AgNPs). Different sizes and morphologies of AgNPs were adopted to shift the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and intensify recurrent light scattering between the AgNPs. For better overlap between surface plasmon resonance and the photoluminescence of fluorescent molecules with appropriately-sized silver nanoprisms, the slope efficiency of the PRL was greatly enhanced and the lasing threshold was obviously reduced. In addition, the photon lifetime for the DC-PVA/AgNPs film reveals an apparent decline around 1.39 ns owing to better coupling with LSPR. The stronger light scattering of samples with bigger-sized silver nanoprisms has been demonstrated by coherent back scattering measurements, which reveals a smaller transport mean free path around 3.3 μm. With α-stable analysis, it has been successfully demonstrated that the tail exponent α can be regarded as an identifier of the threshold of random lasing.

The resonant energy transfer enhancement from a plasmonic random laser has been investigated by means of a dye-covered PVA film embedded with silver nanoplates with different sizes and morphologies.     

Biomass-derived three-dimensional carbon framework for a flexible fibrous supercapacitor and its application as a wearable smart textile

High electrochemical performance and mechanical reliability are two important properties of the flexible fibrous supercapacitors (FFSCs) used in portable and wearable electronics. Herein, we introduce high-performance and stable FFSCs produced using Tetrapanax papyrifer with a honeycomb-like structure (the key material) acting as a frame for an activated carbon (AC) coating. The honeycomb-like structure facilitates penetration of electrolytes and electron transport in the AC particles. This reduces the contact resistance between the AC and current collector, thereby enhancing the electrochemical energy storage. The FFSCs possess long length and area specific capacitances of 20.8 mF cm⁻¹ and 83.9 mF cm⁻², respectively. In addition, the fabricated FFSCs display a maximum length (area) energy density of 3.98 μW h cm⁻¹ (16.1 μW h cm⁻²) at a power density of 0.07 mW cm⁻¹ (1.99 mW cm⁻²) and attain an excellent capacitance retention of 91% over 10 000 cycles. Moreover, the supercapacitors exhibit excellent mechanical flexibility with minor increase in capacitance upon bending. Three flexible fibrous supercapacitors in series power a red light-emitting diode, demonstrating the potential application of the flexible fibrous supercapacitors in smart textiles.

High electrochemical performance and mechanical reliability are two important properties of the flexible fibrous supercapacitors (FFSCs) used in portable and wearable electronics.